car/train incident in West Redding

Clean Cab wrote:The engine was running southbound, not the cab car. I guess the BL20 might have suffered some slight damage.

Fireman's side front railing a little bent, some minor track receiver damage, and I believe the fireman's side stairs looked a little bent as well which may mean the pilot has minor damage as well.

It should be federal law that ALL public crossings on class 3 or better track (including the rural ones) should have flashers at a minimum. Crossbuck-only crossings are just accidents waiting to happen.

Class 4 or better track needs gates on all crossings with more than minimal train and vehicle traffic.

Long Ridge Road does have lights and gate. It lacks gates though. This is a scarey crossing for southbound trains. It is on a slight downhill grade (the grade begins to go uphill right at the crossing), the area speed is 50 MPH and it is on a blind curve. There have been incidents at this crossing before and I think in light of this accident, gates can/will be installed ASAP. I doubt there'd be many people in Redding who would object now.

This crossing should be set up as a 4 gate(quiet)crossing,this might be the only cure after this accident.
Do all the Danbury Br crossing still have their "cowbells",or now use a louder bell(s) when upgraded??

As #111 and set went deadheaded to NY after the incident, what set will replace this one or will #111 return on a new Mini-Bomb set on a New Years Day deadhead from Harmon up to Stamford, CT just in time for Wednesday when both sets are running.

Backshophoss wrote:This crossing should be set up as a 4 gate(quiet)crossing,this might be the only cure after this accident.
Do all the Danbury Br crossing still have their "cowbells",or now use a louder bell(s) when upgraded??

There are certain requirements for 4 gate quiet crossings, and non are met on Danbury branch.
All crossings have bells, some newer once have E-bells.

and Mr.Backshophos suggesting that Long ridge Rd would need to be a quiet crossing is just insane, specially if you know what kind of blind curve its on.

I think the kind gentleman meant that the crossing have 4 gates like quiet-zone crossings. Make it a loud crossing, but make it with 4 gates (to extra protect the people who seem extra disinclined to wait patiently for the train to pass).

again a four quadrant crossing must comply with certain requirements, long ridge rd does not meet any of the guidelines.
the crossing needs a regular crossing with gates (planed as part of signal instalation)
making it beyond is just attempt to "you can't fix stupid"

Nobody has patience anymore. They have to risk losing a muffler driving off the pavement if the car in front of them stops for a left turn. No different with grade crossings. We're all just too important to be delayed by someone else.

Although it's tragic, the Metro North personel are victims, too. A train can't stop on a dime despite public perception as we all know, and the operators of the train are forced to have no other choice but to watch, no matter what they do.

From the Danbury News-Times:

A Metro-North official said Wednesday that a blaring radio contributed to car-train collision that left a Danbury man dead and critically injured three other people near the West Redding station on Sunday.

Read more: http://www.newstimes.com/policereports/ ... z2GsaaCogq

I've never been involved in a fatality, but the sound of a train dumping its air along with that laying hard on the horn is a terrible and helpless feeling, those seconds feel like hours. I can't imagine the feeling if someone lost their life. Thoughts are with the crew, and not all fatalities make the media like this one; as has been case even in recent days on Metro-North.

Being a person that used to control a train, seeing that you're about to hit someone/something and dumping the train is one of THE most frightening things I've ever experienced. It may take only a few seconds until the train stops, but each second feels like an eternity.

lirr42 wrote:I think the kind gentleman meant that the crossing have 4 gates like quiet-zone crossings. Make it a loud crossing, but make it with 4 gates (to extra protect the people who seem extra disinclined to wait patiently for the train to pass).

Long Ridge Road is a Redding town road. Like most town roads in that part of Connecticut, they seem to have paved it back in the 1940's by simply making one pass with a road grader, then dumping blacktop over the gravel. If it's much more than 18 feet wide at the grade crossing in West Redding I'd be surprised. Two gates will work just fine.

From: http://www.newstimes.com/policereports/ ... z2Gw4xfTv1

The train blew its horn as it approached the crossing, but the engineer did not see the car in time, Anders said.

Does it even matter if the engineer did see the car in time? They (the media) should really be emphasizing railroad crossing safety, not looking for every possible angle to villianize MNRR in this.

The car in question ran in front of the train when the train was almost at the crossing. There was nothing the train crew could do.